Tough turkeys run amok in Marin

Once on the brink of extinction, wild turkeys — tougher, leaner and smarter than the birds mass-produced for Thanksgiving Day platters — are scratching, pecking and smashing plants, crops and lawns across Marin.

The pesky gobblers have been slowed, but are still a nuisance in Marin County — and their numbers appear to be growing in other Bay Area communities where they have room to roam.

Wild turkeys are prevalent on Mount Tamalpais, where officials are worried the birds are causing damage by eating precious oak tree acorns, elbowing out other species for food and sometimes, during the birds' mating season, frightening hikers and bikers.

The Marin Municipal Water District — which oversees watershed lands on the mountain — has had limited success fighting the turkeys. It used a drop net in 2006 and 2007 to trap birds, which were then transported to California Fish and Game hunting areas where wild turkeys already existed.

"We believe that our efforts significantly reduced turkey populations, but only in the immediate vicinity of where we did trapping," said Mike Swezy, watershed manager with the water district.

The proliferation of coyotes, along with bobcats in the county, may have helped cut the population, Swezy said.

"My guess, based on casual observation around Marin, is that overall turkey populations have dropped somewhat due to increased predation, but I have no scientific evidence," he said.

But the water district has stopped trying to control populations because of costs and the difficulty in getting landowners get rid of their populations.

And turkeys still abound in the Tennessee Valley, Ross, Ignacio, Lucas Valley, Hicks Valley, Olema Valley, San Geronimo Valley, Fairfax and other areas.

"Eradication doesn't seem to be a realistic goal," Swezy said.

Officials say most of the turkeys in Marin can be traced to birds brought into the county in 1988 and established on Loma Alta, the hill west of Lucas Valley. The birds were brought in by state Fish and Game to provide hunting opportunities on private land.

Hunting was initially delayed to allow the birds to build a population. But with minimal hunting in the county, the birds' numbers increased and spilled beyond Loma Alta and onto surrounding public lands, where hunting is not allowed.

The birds can travel 25 to 50 miles during the course of a season.

Wildlife experts say Bay Area and Sacramento area cities are at the epicenter of turkey trouble.

Experts estimate there are about 6 million wild turkeys in 49 states — and about 18 percent of California now has turkeys.

A state biologist said turkey populations are leveling off in rural and wilderness areas, but still growing in the Bay Area and Sacramento regions.

"Wild turkeys are moving into our urban areas, and finding it a very welcoming environment," said Scott Gardner, state Department of Fish and Game wildlife biologist.

Adding to the urban conflicts, some people feed turkeys, making them less afraid of people and bolder about invading yards and roofs.

"If you really care about wild turkeys, you won't feed them because you are making them into a nuisance and putting them into a situation where they may be killed," Gardner said.

If a wild turkey invades your yard, experts advise shooing it away, spraying it with a water hose or waving an umbrella at it. Dogs can frighten off the birds as well.

In response to increasing complaints, Fish and Game issues about 100 depredation permits annually that allow people to kill turkeys that damage property.

Turkey-versus-people conflicts also are common in many states where the birds are expanding into residential areas near open spaces, said Bob Ericksen, a biologist with the National Wild Turkey Federation.

He said that after wild turkeys expand into a new area, their population typically takes off fast and then levels off after about 20 years.

In the late 1800s, the outlook for survival of the wild turkey in this nation looked bleak because of over-hunting and habitat destruction. But now, helped by hunting limits, conservation protections and introduction of wild turkeys into old areas or new ones like California, the population is strong.

"Frankly," Ericksen said, "wild turkeys are doing much better than we would have expected."